product that my company delivers is healthcare and while it is not a product that follows the normal supply and demand cycle, it has been affected by numerous events recently. For more than a decade now the reimbursement rates for hospitals were based on DRGs or a code given to a diagnosis. This originated from Medicare and many insurance companies have followed with a similar reimbursement rate. This system is constantly changing and evolving. Most recently it was announced that hospitals would not receive reimbursement for a patient that acquired a hospital acquired infection or injury while in the hospital. This has forced those hospitals that did not already have a strong infection control program in place to do so. Some states have become involved requiring that hospitals screen those individuals who are perceived “high risk” for MRSA on admission. Our hospitals is very aware of the need to ensure high quality care to stay in business and has spent a large amount of money educating staff and physicians on infection control best practices and increasing staffing to decrease falls and any injury to patients. Much of the processes that are being done have not changed, but we are utilizing more data collection tools to ensure that our practices are effective.
Another factor that has affected healthcare is the amount of uninsured individuals that we service. Our hospital alone wrote off more than 3 million in bad debt last year due to this problem. While this is a huge political debate, free healthcare for all is not the answer. A better solution would be to look at the insurance and billing. There is not a plan that would solve 100% of the problems with the uninsured.
The public accessibility to information ...